Jaguar Population Soars in Mexico’s Yucatán

QUINTANA ROO, Mexico — The Yucatán Peninsula is home to the largest population of jaguars in Mexico, with 1,699 specimens registered, according to results from the Third National Jaguar Census 2024. The states of Quintana Roo, Yucatán, and Campeche collectively form this key region for the conservation of the largest feline in the Americas, a species fundamental for measuring the health of ecosystems.

The study, considered the most extensive ever conducted in Mexico on a single mammal, indicates that a total of 5,326 jaguars were counted across the national territory in 2024. This figure represents a population increase compared to 2010, when 4,100 were registered, and to 2018, when the number was 4,800.

"This growth gives hope for a better future, one that can reconcile conservation and development. Saving the jaguar in particular, and Mexico's diversity in general, will depend on our actions. And paradoxically, our own future also depends on it," explained Gerardo Ceballos González, president of the National Alliance for Jaguar Conservation and coordinator of the census.

Distribution and Conservation of the Jaguar

The ecoregions with the highest number of individuals are the Yucatán Peninsula, with 1,699; the South Pacific, with 1,541; the Northeast and Central Mexico, with 813; the North Pacific, with 733; and the Central Pacific Coast, with 540.

Despite the population growth, experts warn that the jaguar remains endangered due to habitat loss and pressure from human activities.

The census was conducted across 23 sites in 15 states, including Quintana Roo, Yucatán, and Campeche, using 920 camera traps placed over 90 days. The total sampling area covered 414,000 hectares, with the participation of 49 researchers, local communities, academics, and personnel from the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (Conanp).

Jaguar: Key to Mexico's Environmental Future

Humberto Adán Peña Fuentes, coordinator of state strategies for the Alliance, emphasized that protecting the jaguar also means guaranteeing the environmental services that sustain human life, such as water, oxygen, and food.

The jaguar's biological corridor includes the states of Quintana Roo, Yucatán, Campeche, Chiapas, Morelos, Puebla, Hidalgo, San Luis Potosí, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, Sonora, Sinaloa, Nayarit, Jalisco, Michoacán, and Guerrero.

The Yucatán Peninsula remains a strategic territory for the conservation of this species, which is emblematic of Mexico's cultural and biological identity.

Protection

The census put forward several key recommendations:

• Incentivize the conservation of biological corridors that are not within protected natural areas.
• Strengthen measures against the illegal trafficking of skins, claws, and fangs on digital platforms.
• Improve livestock insurance and consider payments for environmental services to communities that protect the jaguar.
• Expand the construction of wildlife crossings on highways and railways to reduce collisions.
• Consolidate the role of protected natural areas with more resources and vigilance against logging and poaching.